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PSB negligence: Pak bowlers to miss world event

Islamabad—The negligence by an official of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has deprived Pakistan Tenpin Bowling Federation (PTBF) the opportunity to field its team in the upcoming Qubica AMF World Cup.
The 52 Qubica AMF World Cup is scheduled to take place at Hao’s Bowling, Shanghai, China from 14-23 October.
The interesting thing is that though it is almost certain now that no bowler from Pakistan will feature in the event, PSB’s official website still claims that Pakistan tenpin team will participate in it according to the schedule.
“How can we apply for the visas and leave the country when we don’t get NOC for the event?” asked the PTBF Secretary Ijaz-ur-Rehman when this news agency approached him to know when will Pakistan team depart for the event.
“We’d applied for the NOC some three months ago. But the official concerned forwarded our case to the IPC ministry without signing. The ministry could only return it with an objection, so it did that.
We’ve no idea whether the board removed the objection and again sent our case to the ministry or not. The fact is that negligence has caused us heavily,” he said.
Ijaz, who is also a top quality tenpin player, was scheduled to represent the country along with his manager Sikandar Hayat. In the last edition of the cup, he finished at 53 out of the total 120 bowlers.
“I’ve been training really hard for the event and was optimistic to finish among the top bowlers this time. But I’m really depressed as I will not be able to chip in the event now”, he added.
Ijaz stated that the PSB had not issued annual grant to PTBF and other federations though it (the board) had received allocations from the government for the purpose.
“I’ve approached the board’s top officials on a number of times but always received the answer that a board meeting will be held soon and we’ll get our grant after that,” he said.
He said bowling was a comparatively new sport in Pakistan and a large number of youth were showing keen interest.
“Bowling is getting popularity in Pakistan with each passing day. But it will be a great setback for this fledgling sport here if we’ll remain unable to take part in international events due to non-issuance of NOC or scarcity of funds,” Ijaz reckoned.—APP